Cosmétiques : fin des tests animaux

L’Union européenne interdit déjà l’expérimentation animale pour les produits cosmétiques depuis 2004 : les produits finis cosmétiques testés sur les animaux sont alors interdits en Europe (cela ne prend pas en compte les tests sur les ingrédients). 

Le 11 mars 2009, les tests sur les ingrédients et produits finis dans les cosmétiques sont interdits, sauf pour les tests mesurant les effets de la toxicité à long terme et ce sont les dernières dérogations autorisées qui viennent de prendre fin.
 

A partir du 11 mars 2013, l’interdiction totale de l’expérimentation animale pour tester les produits cosmétiques commercialisés en Europe entre en vigueur.

L’influence de cette nouvelle loi dépasse les frontières de l’Europe : toute entreprise de cosmétique internationale qui ne veut pas se priver du marché européen devra obligatoirement ne pas tester ses produits sur animaux.

Toutefois, si les entreprises européennes fabriqueront des cosmétiques sans cruauté, le fait d’accéder au marché chinois leur impose de tester indirectement leurs cosmétiques sur animaux car le gouvernement chinois teste les cosmétiques étrangers sur animaux à l’entrée sur le territoire.

Bruxelles reconnait cependant que le remplacement complet des tests animaux par d’autres méthodes n’est pas encore possible. La Suisse a, quant à elle, maintenu des exceptions, notamment quand le bénéfice sur la santé humaine l’emporte sur celui de l’animal. L’office vétérinaire fédéral (OVF) signale que des tests ont été effectués en 2010 et 2011 sur des rats pour vérifier la qualité des filtres ultaviolets de crèmes solaires.

L'association Terre Lawrence Anthony soutient l'initiative citoyenne européenne STOP VIVISECTION

qui donne la possibilité aux citoyens d'exprimer leur NON à l'expérimentation animale et d'exiger de l'Union européenne un parcours scientifique avancé, protégeant les droits des êtres humains et des animaux.

Grâce à l'Initiative citoyenne, avec 1 million de signatures, les citoyens européens peuvent prendre part à l'élaboration des politiques de l'Union européenne.

"Nous demandons instamment à la Commission européenne d'abroger la directive 2010/63/UE relative à la protection des animaux utilisés à des fins scientifiques et de présenter à la place une nouvelle proposition de directive visant à mettre fin à l’expérimentation animale et de rendre obligatoire, pour la recherche biomédicale et toxicologique, l’utilisation de données pertinentes pour l’espèce humaine".

Observatoire du rhinocéros

KZN Rhino Watch has been going for five months now, and the project continues to be recognised at the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HIP) as being an effective anti poaching tool.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife's Lawrence Munroe, who's based at HIP where our helicopter is stationed, is one such advocate.

We caught up with him for his report on the past week in the Park. He says fortunately, it has been an incident-free one.

"We've had some adverse weather recently in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park which has affected the helicopter operation. However the helicopter has been put on standby twice in the past week for potential rhino poaching incidents.

"They did not take place and we are getting feedback from our investigations guys that the poachers are not happy that there's been an increased deployment of law enforcement personnel; they have seen the helicopter and they are not happy with that.

"So the helicopter definitely continues to be effective; the pilots have been briefed and there's a structured and a coordinated approach taking place with regards to the deployment of these aircraft," said Munroe.


And by aircraft, he means the fleet that Ezemvelo is building up, which includes fixed wing aircraft and two other choppers.

This has all materialised in the last five months and the added aircraft mean that Ezemvelo can cover a wider area - in other words, not just Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park.

"The ZAP Wing has been created which is a coordinated effort to deploy relevant aircrafts to law enforcement and rhino anti-poaching operations.

"The ZAP Wing consists of helicopters as well as ultra light fixed-wing aircrafts and the synergy between these aircrafts is proving very effective in surveillance and reaction in all matters pertaining to rhino anti- poaching."

And of course, our chopper - piloted and maintained by King Shaka Aviation - is a pivotal part of that.

Also in the last week, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting has been taking place in Bangkok.

I asked Yvette Taylor, from our partner organisation The Lawrence Anthony Earth Organisation, to talk us through the main developments there relating to the rhino.

"They've done things like getting Vietnam to conduct their own consumer behaviour research; tighten up their own imports of any CITES restricted animals; reporting seizures and arrests. They've sent messages directly to Mozambique in the same vein - to tighten up areas of weakness..."

"So I think from that viewpoint they've given us quite a comprehensive guideline on what should be implemented to improve the current situation and I'm quite positive about that.

"The hot topic has always been legalised hunting and legalised trade and Kenya has withdrawn their application to stop any hunting, so that will stay as it is and I think be investigated in terms of specifically the rhino.

"And then legalised trade, the minister has now said that they want a full investigation into the economics of legalised trade. I support the full investigation of the subject...I myself am not convinced at this point that this is the answer, but I think a thorough investigation... is always going to help that decision making process. So all in all I think they've had a good result."

KZN Rhino Watch has raised R1 138 011 to date towards keeping our helicopter in the air.
In the last week, donations have come in from Gaye Kirk; Royal Park Security and Faxplus.co.za.

A special word about Faxplus.co.za - a digital faxing service - they've written in to say they're committed to supporting the project on a monthly basis. Managing member, Rob Ansell, says: "The staff and founders of FaxPlus.co.za have been incredibly moved and inspired by what you're doing with KZN Rhino Watch. We would also like to assist in some way to ensure the future of our rhinos. We pledge that for every fax processed by us, a percentage of the rebate we receive will be donated to ECR KZN Rhino Watch on a monthly basis. To get the contribution ball rolling, we would like to donate R2,360.53 to ECR KZN Rhino Watch.

And they've done that! Big thanks to them and to our other supporters. It's all so greatly appreciated.

And thanks also to our print partner, The Witness, who feature stories about the KZN Rhino Watch initiative every Thursday, enabling us to get the word out to an even broader audience.

By Diane Macpherson  (East Coast Radio13 mars 2013)